A weekly address from Patrick Adams,
President of St. Louis Community Credit Union

A Sense of Community

Seriously, we had a GREAT data processing system upgrade. For those keeping score, it happened just a little over a week ago. For those who experienced disruption to their lives, vehement disagreement would prevail — and I agree with them. I’d be upset as well. You don’t mess with people’s money or their kids. Again, our apologies to those adversely affected.

That said, the measurement of the masses indicates that things went as planned without much heartache or headache. The overwhelming majority agreed that it went pretty smoothly.

I can talk about data processing, information technology, bits and bytes, servers, routers, programming and the like for only so long. I run out of either knowledge or energy fairly quickly. However, I do like to talk about people, especially the content of people’s character. I’m far from being a sociological, anthropological or psychological juggernaut in the knowledge department, but I do get people from a “street” perspective. The “golden rule” comes to mind as a rule of the street.

People like to be hugged — with either words or arms, it doesn’t matter. You can say just about anything if you say it with sincerity and care for the recipients of your affection. During the upgrade on Friday the 3rd, we attempted to hug each of you. If you showed up, we wanted you to know how much we cared. That was a given in our plan. It was our job to love you, and we executed on our intention without flaw.

But what happened to those of us doing the hugging was an unexpected pleasure. You hugged us back. Your actions give me great comfort and pause, along with tremendous optimism that this crazy world will be all right. Yes, you hugged us back. Really, you did.

The folks I encountered last Friday, July 3, were some of the finest people I’ve ever met. And over this past week, that has been the topic of conversation at the water cooler. We’ve traded stories about members who were extraordinarily loving during extraordinary times. Under the stress of getting their money out of the credit union to live their respective lives, they were kind, considerate, patient and understanding. Lines were long, yet very few were short on patience. Thank you.

What a sense of community. Black and white, male and female, old and young were hugging each other with kind eyes, caring words, physical embraces. Heck, I even saw one of our employees get kisses out the car window from a couple of beautiful Pit Bulls who were along for the ride.

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Patrick has been employed with St. Louis Community Credit Union for more than 30 years. As a Community Development Financial Institution, St. Louis Community offers safe and affordable loans, second chance checking accounts and branches in underserved areas as part of its overall community giveback. Patrick is proud to be associated with nearly 200 employees who have a laser-like focus on service to our members and the community. Learn more at stlouiscommunity.com